Meet Gellibrand client Sandra Razumic, a curious and outgoing person who’s always up for an adventure. She values friendship, community connection, and trying new things.
When I met Sandra Razumic, she was enjoying Meaningful Activities in Partnership (MAP) at Gellibrand’s new Mary Burbidge Hub in Ravenhall. Sandra had hundreds of colourful beads on a table and was making a necklace.
“We sell them at the markets in Altona,” she explained, adding that she likes the new Mary Burbidge Hub because it is warm and cosy. “They should paint it blue, green, and orange.”
I said that was a good idea, to paint the walls in Gellibrand’s colours, and Sandra said it was the kind of idea she and other members came up with regularly at Gellibrand Client Committee meetings.
Sandra lived in Croatia until she was three and then came to Australia. When she was 12, she went on a holiday to see her family in Croatia but hasn’t been back since. Sandra lived with her mother in Meadow Heights until her mother died in 2018. After that, Sandra lived alone, but her sister, Anne, suggested that Sandra would be better living where she could be supported to remain independent. So, Sandra came to Gellibrand in 2018 for a respite stay at the Linnet Street property and moved into a Gellibrand share house as a client in 2019. She now lives at the Anther site.
“Gellibrand has been great, they support me. And I love to go on the outings,” she said.
Recently, Sandra has enjoyed collecting bottles and cans for the Victorian recycling program – and she’s liked the bonus of getting some money for her efforts. She has also attended trips to the zoo and, a few days before this article, a visit to the RAAF Museum in Point Cook.
“I’m a very friendly person and I have lots of good friends at Gellibrand,” Sandra said, adding that those friends included Alice Gates, Helen Young, Zenny Spiridis, Andrea Cotter, Susan O’Sullivan, and Martin Dignan. She likes seeing them all at Gellibrand’s events and they enjoy watching TV shows and movies with Sandra, chosen from her big DVD collection.
“The Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Sound of Music,” she said with a smile when I asked her which shows were her favourites. Sandra is also a big music fan – especially of bands and artists from the ‘80s. Duran Duran, Madonna, and Hall & Oates are on high rotation for Sandra, but Kylie Minogue is her all-time favourite.
“I would love to go to her concert but it is very expensive,” she said, adding that she would also like to meet her hero. If she did, maybe she’d ask Kylie to play a game with her; Sandra loves board and card games like Solitaire, Wheel of Fortune, Uno and Memory.
“My sister Anne bought me Memory. She gives me lots of presents,” Sandra said.
As well as MAP, Sandra does a MAP literacy program on Fridays where, she said, she “works on a computer and matches pictures with words.” And, along with Gellibrand excursions, she goes on other independent community outings.
“I go to church every Sunday,” she said, “and I say my prayers for my family. I also go and do my banking with Anne every fortnight and we have lunch.”
Any chance to get out and about – chatting with people and having a coffee – Sandra will be there. But, on the day I met her, it was cold out and there was nowhere better to be than at Mary Burbidge Hub with her friends and making beautiful necklaces.
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